attracted by the spell of that eloquence of which he was one day to be himself such a mighty master. But he was no idle specta tor. He read hard, and devoted a part of each day to writing, that he might accustom himself to accurate and rapid composition. The advantage of this habit to a speaker was strongly felt by him. He says that by writing on a subject we pay more than ordi nary attention to it, and thus many things present themselves to the mind which we should otherwise let slip. Besides this the most appropriate words and sentences occur to us while we bestow careful attention upon our style, and we learn to arrange our thoughts in the best order. A habit is thus engendered of employing always the most apt and striking language; and a speaker who has been accustomed to make use of his pen will, when he is obliged to utter anything extempore, be able to do it with the same correctness and grace as if it had been pre viously composed. The impetus given will, in fact, continue. Cicero illustrates this by the elegant simile of a vessel retaining her onward way after the rowers have ceased their stroke, from the mere impulse pre viously communicated. These are valuable hints from such a teacher, and would be acted upon much more generally if it were not for the reason which he himself sug gests, — the disinclination which men feel to undertake the labor of such a course of preparation. Cicero studied civil law under the able guidance of Q. Mucius Scjevola, whose house was thronged by clients who resorted to the great jurist for advice in legal difficulties. At the same time he refreshed and enlarged his mind by attending the lectures on phi losophy which were given by Philo, the leader of the new academy, who had been driven from Athens by the war which Sylla carried on against Mithridates in Greece. And in order to prepare himself for practice at the bar, he received instruction from Molo the Rhodian, once a distinguished advocate, but now teacher of the art of oratory at
Rome. During this period legal proceedings were almost at a stand-still, while armed factions were contending for the mastery; but calmer times succeeded, and for three years the city enjoyed a hollow but un disturbed tranquillity. Many, however, of Rome's most eloquent sons — Sulpicius, Catullus, Antony, and Julius — had perished in the civil war, and their place was ill sup plied by such speakers as Antistius, Piso, Pomponius, and Carbo, who now enjoyed, after Hortensius, the chief practice of the courts. Cicero tells us that he devoted him self during these three years, night and day, to the most severe and unremitting study, keeping one object steadily in view, and di recting all his energies to the cultivation of eloquence, the absorbing passion of his life. Diodorus the Stoic taught him logic, and he daily declaimed in the presence of some friend, sometimes in his native language, but more frequently in Greek, with which tongue he was perfectly familiar, and which enabled him to transfer some of its rich lux uriance to the more unadorned and meagre Latin. Such vwas the training by which Cicero sought to qualify himself for success in his career; and he might justly say that when he commenced practice he required little in struction from experience, but was already equal to the conduct of the greatest causes. Cicero was proud of his vocation. He ap plied himself to it with untiring assiduity, and had a lofty idea of its requirements. "I," he said, when contending with Caecilius for the right of conducting the prosecu tion against Verres, " who, as all are aware, have had such practice in the forum and in trials, that none or few of the same age as myself have been engaged in more causes, and who devote all the time which I can spare from the service of my friends to the studies and labors of my profession, in order that I may be better prepared and readier for practice at the bar; I, notwithstanding this, — so may the Gods be merciful to me! — declare that whenever I think of the mo
